The Iraqi militant group that has been steadily working on overthrowing Iraq’s Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki, has proclaimed the birth of the “Islamic State,” with it’s head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the Caliph of the new Caliphate on the eve of the beginning of Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organizations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph’s authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas,” said the spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, in a statement posted online. “Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day.” The new Caliphate spreads between Northern Syria to Iraqi Province of Diyala, as per the announcement. The Islamic Caliphate has been an ideological dream of all muslim world, as a step to the resurgence of muslim dominance and unity in the Middle East.

Al Baghdadi’s and ISIS’s rise spells new challenge to Al Qaida too as the splinter group has successfully eclipsed the major muslim terrorist organization in the recent times. Al Baghdadi’s team was advised to leave Syrian soil by Qaida’s Zawahiri, which was rejected by Baghdadi. Al Qaida then cut all ties with the smaller outfit. As the hold of ISIS spread through Iraq, Al Baghdadi’s popularity and brutal methods gained traction in the muslim world, mostly in the Sunni dominated parts, and now, he is proclaimed as the new Caliph demanding for the allegiance of all Muslim powers.

“ISIL’s strategy to develop a caliphate across the region has been clear for some time now. That is why this is a critical moment for the international community to stand together against ISIL and the advances it has made,” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said after the announcement.

Al Maliki’s administration is claiming that it has won back parts of Tikrit town and hoping further victories with the help of US support, but the counter attacks so far have been few and spaced out. How the larger muslim world responds to the new development, will set course for the new Islamic State and Al Baghdadi himself.